Formula or breastmilk should make up the majority of a child's diet through the first year. There should not be "three meals a day" offered, it's mostly for the experience and getting used to it, not for nutrition. Obviously some eat more and some eat less, and some have medical conditions such as reflux that requires heavier food. But three snacks a day is more accurate until they're a year. Also, iron-fortified isn't necessary in most cases. In fact, it'll likely cause gas and constipation in babies if you just throw it into their diet.

Sorry, Anonymous, but I completely disagree with you. My daughter would have starved if I would have kept her on a formula-only diet for her first year.

I started her on food when she was about 4 months old, simple things like apple, pear, sweet potato and carrot purees.

By the time she was a year old, she was having breakfast (cereal, porridge, toast, even pancakes, plus a dairy source and fruit), then a small bottle mid-morning (which she dropped at 12 months), then lunch (ex: pasta and/or chicken and/or rice, vegetables and another dairy), an afternoon snack (fruit, vegetable or avocado and a dairy, and then dinner. She would then have a bedtime bottle.

She just turned 13 months and has an incredibly varied diet.

I agree with EvieJ, my son would have been so hungry had I waited till he was a year old.

Where does comment 1 say ONLY formula? It says majority, which is true. That doesn't mean you don't supplement with solids.

Comment 1 says:
"There should not be "three meals a day" offered, it's mostly for the experience and getting used to it, not for nutrition. Obviously some eat more and some eat less, and some have medical conditions such as reflux that requires heavier food. But three snacks a day is more accurate until they're a year."
And my reply is still that my daughter would have starved had she not had nutrition from other foods. She did not have "snacks", she had meals. It wasn't due to reflux or any other medical condition, just the fact that she was a normal baby! Up until the age of 1, babies require approximately 100 calories per kilo of body weight (that's 2.2 pounds).
Dont' forget that an infant's birth weight doubles after about five months and triples by the first birthday, by which time the infant's length increases by half. Adequate and appropriate nutrition is essential during this period, for infants that *do not receive sufficient calories*, vitamins, and minerals will not reach their expected growth.

I agree with Anonymous. The main source of nutrition for the firt year is from breastmilk or formula, this is why its recommended that you offer solids AFTER the baby finishes a breastmilk or formula feed. Solids are just for practice until then, babies can survive on only breastmilk or formula until they are a year old (two of mine refused solids up until they were almost 1 and they did just fine on breastmilk alone). Your baby would not have starved if she hadn't had solids, she would have eaten more formula and gotten all the calories, vitamins, and minerals she needed from it.

well, anonymous and momto5, not according to many sources, including my pediatrician. we are to give meals then milk, not the other way around, and this was conveyed at the 9 month appointment. when my son is teething, he refuses bottles because sucking can be too painful. in that situation, yes, he would have starved because he didn't take a bottle for 2 days.

i guess the moral of the story, as it is always with these arguments, is that you talk to your pediatrician(s), you read a book, you talk to your parents, and you roll with the punches your baby throws because after all, no 2 babies are alike.

everyone off the soapbox yet, or shall we continue?

Don't mess with evolution.

Humans evolved on breastmilk for the first year, and in most early societies, for several years onwards. It's hard to know how much/often solids were offered, but if you look at other mammals, breastmilk is given for the majority of calories until they reach a certain maturity that equates, I believe, to a toddler. If the mother breastfeeds often enough (on demand - night & day - the way we were designed to) there will, in almost all cases, be enough milk to provide even a super-fast growing baby all that they need, with the exception of vitamin D (we need to get sunlight for that - something else we evolved with).
Easier said than done when you work & have to express using a pump though. Some breasts don't seem to like pumps.

Re Iron. Iron in breastmilk is more easily absorbed, so very little of it is needed. Iron in formula is difficult for them to digest so formula makers need to pack it full of iron (resulting in constipation).

Food before one is just for fun!

This means it should be in addition to their feeds not as a replacement. Infants need a high fat diet not one thats packed with almost empty calories from veg. Yes fruit and vegetable purees do contain lots of nice vitamins etc but they dont contain the essential fats.